


When Laura Met Stiles

by SilverYaoiHellion



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Bottom Derek Hale, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Out of Character, Rating May Change, Spirits, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-01
Updated: 2012-12-16
Packaged: 2017-11-17 12:41:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/551690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverYaoiHellion/pseuds/SilverYaoiHellion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Since her death, Laura Hale’s worry for her little brother has kept her from moving on into the afterlife. So she’s been around, watching her brother crumble before her eyes unable to do anything; at least until she finally gets to know one Stiles Stilinski, and maybe then, she can finally take her brother’s wellbeing into her intangible hands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. They Meet

**Author's Note:**

> I'm taking on one of my own challenges, where it'll head, I have no true idea; I just hashed out this chapter in the span of an hour or two...

I wanted to kick Chris Argent in the face for handling my brother like that for what was likely the third time this month. He needed to move on with his life and get over the fact that my brother killed his wife, as much as the man didn’t want to admit it, it was all her fault; all Derek was trying to do was protect his own.

This particular slam was into the wall of another gas station in town, this time with a scentless wolfsbane laden dagger of some sort pressed into Derek’s side without stabbing him, but hidden from the view of outsiders. Chris moved in real close to Derek’s face for a few silent seconds, then spoke without moving back an inch.

“There have been odd attacks happening here and there around town lately, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, right?” Chris asked in a smooth voice.

I rolled my eyes, of course my brother didn’t know what was going on, but he too was looking of course.

I’ve watched Derek rack his head for the past couple of months with him trying to figure out what in the world is going on. The attacks in questions were just that, attacks, not really deaths, at least not yet. People were being attacked in the night, again; but this time it didn’t really equate to being a werewolf. Yes, the attacks were similar, but it was the characteristics of the attacks, or rather the wounds the people were left with; the claw marks weren’t that of werewolves but another species entirely, just of what wasn’t known.

“I have no idea.” Derek answered through clenched teeth.

Chris gave Derek an extra hard glare before suddenly unhanding him, but not before shoving Derek back into the wall that he was still pressed up against. Sheathing the dagger, the bastard turned his back on Derek and simply walked away without another word. Derek held his breath until the man was out of hearing range, simply stepped a couple steps away from the wall as he kept his eyes on the newly widowed man till he stepped in his car and drove away.

Derek could’ve slashed Chris’ head off of his shoulders at such close range with little struggle, even with that dagger pressed to his side; but both he and Chris knew he wouldn’t do that, that he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Derek felt horrible for taking Allison’s mother away from her, no matter what her father did, he refused to take him away too, even if it meant that he was going to die, which at times he wished would happen.

Derek did the opposite of what he felt like doing and squared his shoulders, he walked to the side of the gas station that had his car, and made the discovery that Chris had made sure to see to his car before coming to him. Instead of one window like it usually was, it was both the windshield and back windows. With a heavy sigh and a long, slow, hard drag of his hand over his face; Derek slipped into his car and drove home, with plans of visiting the shop for the second time that month in the morning.

I seated myself in the seat next to him and just stared. My baby brother was breaking, he was going to crack soon, how and when I didn’t know, but it was going to be soon. Someone needed to take care of him because he wasn’t doing it himself, he just gave himself the minimal bit of care necessary to keep himself going, and it was killing him because he almost refused to do anything more.

When I was alive, when it was just us two, I had to go out of my way to make sure that Derek was eating well(even if it was only junk food for a week straight), that he was healthy, that he was entertained (buying comics and DVDs), spoke with people instead of being alone all the time (introduced him to people his age), nearly everything in an attempt to keep him from falling into complete depression; that was a full time job pretty much. But when I left to go back home, as I was dying, I knew that everything for Derek was just going to fall, that he was going to blame my death on himself as well.

He didn’t need this, he didn’t deserve this, yet he himself refused to have it any other way; this life of minimums being a life of “repentance” for betraying his family those years ago. If I was able, I would drag Kate Argent’s soul from Hell, place it back into her body and kill her slowly and painfully again for what she did to us. I hated that woman like I hated no other.

Derek suddenly slowed to a stop and just stared at something, I followed his gaze and spotted who he was looking at; one Stiles Stilinski. Stiles was at the other side of the road next to what looked like a now broken down jeep, cursing under his breath as he fiddled under the hood under a dim lamp light hanging at the side at almost midnight in the freezing cold. Derek drove up the road and made a u-turn, he drove until he stopped next to the jeep at the side shining the headlights at a now stunned Stiles.

Derek sat back and just stared at Stiles for a moment, almost smirking. I wanted to laugh. He stepped out of the car and sauntered over, I followed closely behind him.

“Dead car battery, dead cell battery, no jumper cables, and no charging cable.” Derek said simply. “And you can’t get a connection out here on your laptop to call for help.”

Stiles shoved his shivering hands into his pockets and sort of shrunk into himself, before snapping his head up and snapping at Derek.

“Yeah! I was researching those attacks that have been happening!” Stiles said. “I’ve got more of a lead than you!”

I smiled, I really liked Stiles.

“Okay, let’s hear it.” Derek said.

Stiles shrunk back a little and mumbled his answer under his breath.

“What was that?” Derek asked.

“Hyenas!” Stiles snapped.

I liked Stiles, but most of the time I just didn’t get the kid. He tried, he really tried, but more times rather than not his attempts didn’t pan out.

Derek, confused and skeptical, turned his back on Stiles and headed to the back of his own car, Stiles following after him going off.

“I think its Hyena weres of some sort!” Stiles continued to explain. “I saw the pictures of the wounds in my dad’s files and saw that they really weren’t werewolves, the claw marks were too jagged and thin, well, maybe not all that thin, but still.”

Derek more or less listened to the now rolling on rambling Stiles as he retrieved a set of jumper cables from the back of his car, Stiles may or may not have noticed, but he continued to follow Derek to the front of their cars.

Connecting the cables to both cars Derek turned to Stiles and told him to shut up. Stiles’ mouth shut with an audible snap.

Derek pointed at Stiles’ car in a signal for him to just get his ass in there. Stiles looked around at the cars and noticed what Derek had done while he was off in his own little world of explanation, without a word he turned and went off to his car while Derek went off to his own. After a couple of minutes, the jeep was running. 

Derek stepped out of his car to retrieve his cables, closed the hoods to both cars; he spared Stiles a glance and saw that Stiles were just shivering, he could actually hear Stiles' teeth clattering together. It was late fall and Stiles were wearing only a thin long sleeve shirt; clearly he had no plans of being out as late as he was. Derek shrugged out of his jacket, walked over to Stiles’ car, opened the door and tossed his jacket at the unsuspecting teen, then closed the door shut. When Derek started walking towards him while taking off his jacket, I saw that Stiles had panic running through his eyes, the last thing he expected was for Derek to just give him, likely to simply borrow, his ever present leather jacket. Stiles quickly put it on, just as he looked up to at least mouth thank you to Derek; the man had already driven away.

Derek was driving slower than he usually would, looking at the rear window, or rather there lack of, he made sure to see Stiles drive off before he started driving as he normally would. Though for some reason, my brother would sooner pull out his own two front teeth than to ever utter a word that Stiles was actually part of his pack, Stiles was still part of his pack in his book, a more important part than any of the others knew.

Derek cared deeply for his pack, he really did; but since the fire, Derek had a hard time showing emotion, an even more difficult time showing emotions after I died. As a kid, Derek was a very cute affectionate pup, he loved to give hugs and received them; he was often the one to initiate cuddle piles with the pack back then. Back then, when someone was sad, Derek would go out of his way to make sure he could make them smile and feel better again; he loved life and loved to see everyone happy. Then after the fire, he became depressed, it was frightening; that wasn’t my brother, yet I knew from then on it was. I tried everything within my power to make him happy, to try and revive the brother that I lost, nearly to no avail.

When Derek confided in me his relationship with Kate, and what Kate had done, I wanted to snap at him, to hit him, to scream at him; but I knew that if I did any of that, I would lose any chance of gaining my brother back. So, I skipped all of my initial reaction and skipped to the inevitable end, to reassure him that I would always love him and that I would always be there for him. I got over my anger quite quickly when I realized that this confession lifted a major weight off of Derek’s shoulders, not all of it, but a lot; he was smiling again, we spoke more, we spent more time together, I was finally getting my favorite wolf back, my best friend.

Then I had to come back to Beacon Hills. It was a couple years later, we had built a life together; Derek was going off to a community college, though he could’ve gone to a better school, money was no issue to us and he had the grades; and I just had little jobs here and there as main support for both of us, to keep myself busy, keeping our funds from the death of our family as an emergency fund. Ever since arriving in New York, I felt like I left something, or rather someone back in Beacon Hills. The feeling had been nagging me for a bit in the beginning, then at the point that I finally made the decision to go back it was gnawing at me, I couldn’t ignore it.

I left New York with a promise from Derek that he would behave and not fall, he promised me; he made me promise to keep safe and to come back safe and sound, I promised him. We broke our promises to each other, from the second I found Uncle Peter. I knew I should’ve just left well enough alone stayed in New York with Derek, but I just had to find out. Now I’m watching my brother kill himself.

Derek pulled up to the burnt remains of the Hale house, getting out of the car he shifted and ran off, barely remembering to close the door behind him. He ran through the woods until he came to a cave, a cave that he’s been calling... well, he hasn’t called it anything…

He simply walked in and fell to the ground; he took out his wallet and opened it to a single picture. Taking the picture out of the wallet, he clutched it in his hand and tossed the wallet off to the side somewhere momentarily unknown. Clutching said picture in hand, he curled up into a tight ball.

“Goodnight Laura, I’m sorry.” He whispered.

The picture was the final picture we took together, of me and him at a Gay Pride parade in New York, shortly after he came out to me. The picture was

Soon, he drifted off to sleep.

I can't cry as a ghost, though I want to sob, and scream, and yell. My brother punishes himself so much that he hasn’t allowed himself the simple “comfort” of sleeping in our old tarnished home; that would still be better than sleeping in this cave.

Not being able to handle this anymore, I just drifted off, to where, I don’t know, at this moment anywhere else would be better than here.

\------------------

I found myself in Stiles Stilinski’s room staring face to face with him some time later, how I ended up there I didn’t know. But with the way he’s staring in my direction right now, I almost swear he can see me.

“Who are you?” Stiles suddenly asked.

I know he wasn’t talking to me, no one has seen me in years. I looked around confused to see if there was anyone else; we were the only ones here.

“Who the hell are you?” Stiles asked, angrily this time.

I looked into his eyes. Shit! He really was staring at me.

“I don’t know how you can see me.” I said. “But hello Stiles. My name is Laura, Laura Hale.”

To be continued…


	2. They Speak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Stiles' initial freakout, he decides to take a chance and gets to know a bit more about Derek through his sister's words, including finding out some secrets about the Argent family.

Stiles barely bit back the scream that he wanted to let out when the book that he tossed at “Laura Hale’s” head went right through it and right out the open window behind her.

‘This can’t be happening…’ Stiles thought to himself. ‘I can’t truly be going crazy, not now.’

“Just go, just leave now!” Stiles said. “I don’t even-” He couldn’t even finish his sentence.

Laura did the opposite of leaving and drifted over to Stiles, floating around him as she took in what she saw, all of it for the first time.

Instead of the “scrawny brat” that she heard her brother often call Stiles under his breath so often, she saw a man that had more strength than others thought, both physically and mentally. Stiles held himself with an air of confidence that could be popped with a pin, but got stronger every day from what she saw. His time with running with all of the wolves and crazy around town made him stronger than his simple hobby of lacrosse. Though Stiles was still a boy, he was quickly becoming a man, a man that Laura could come to trust with the well being of her brother. Stiles was already taking care of Derek more than that man took care of himself, what with “letting” Derek stay so many nights and feeding him when he stayed over. Stiles was so used to it, he even left his window unlocked and at times opened for Derek to come in when he came over; but Derek hasn’t been over in nearly a month.

Stiles stood still as a statue as Laura made her rounds around him, every turn around him made him colder and colder, Laura completely unaware of the unintentionally cold aura she was leaving behind. When she finally stopped and drifted away from Stiles a few feet, Stiles let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.

“Well, if you’re Derek’s sister, why aren’t you haunting him?” Stiles asked in a slightly quivering voice. “Why are you bothering me?”

Laura thought back to where she left her brother sleeping.

“He’s depressed.” She said simply and truthfully.

Stiles scoffed.

“Tell me something I don’t know.” Stiles said haughtily.

Laura glared at Stiles; Stiles instantly found that look that Derek so often did was a family trait; Laura decided to take Stiles up on his unintentional request.

“Well, Derek is currently sleeping in a cave.” Laura said. “He barely eats a decent meal, which with being a werewolf he needs to eat a lot more than the average person to maintain energy throughout the day. He constantly beats and berates himself for something he should’ve let go years ago and refuses to forgive himself for it, even though myself and I’m pretty sure everyone in his family has already forgiven him for it.” 

Stiles stood in stunned silence.

“He can take care of himself; he just can’t bring himself to do it because he doesn’t think he deserves it.” Laura said. “You care for him don’t you Stiles?”

Stiles blushed; he looked at his opened window wide eyed.

Laura smirked.

“Otherwise, you wouldn’t leave your window unlocked and opened in such a dangerous town.” Laura added.

Stiles stuttered before speaking.

“Oh shut up!” He hissed; his face aflame in embarrassment.

Laura laughed out loud.

Stiles went to his window, making a point to walk right through Laura and closed his window; Laura noticed that Stiles didn’t lock it.

“What do you want with me?” Stiles asked.

“I want for you to take care of my brother.” Laura said. “To-”

Stiles didn’t let her finish, he went off.

“Why should I do that?” Stiles asked. “He hates me! Plus, even if I did try to take care of him in the slightest, he’s just going to push me away.”

Laura pointed to the jacket that Derek had let Stiles borrow earlier that night, hung up neatly in his closet on a hanger instead of thrown about on the floor much like the long sleeved shirt and jeans that he was wearing earlier.

“That jacket, along with only a couple of photos were the only things that me and Derek were able to salvage from the fire.” Lauder said. “The jacket belonged to our father. Derek wouldn’t let just anyone borrow his jacket for anything; he’d only let someone trusted take it with them, TRULY TRUSTED.”

Stiles looked back at the jacket, not saying anything, but thinking of that night at the pool.

“Things changed Stiles, even though it hardly seems like it.” Laura said. “Yes, my brother seems like an asshole, but that’s an unfortunate default. I don’t know what it’s going to take for make him realize that he can trust you with more than just his jacket, but I feel that it can get to that point…eventually…”

Stiles was still silent for a moment.

“Tell me what he was like when he was younger, before the fire?” Stiles asked.

Laura smiled, there was hope yet.

So, the two spoke, about when Derek was when he was younger; how as a kid he had aspirations to grow up someday and be a bridge between were-creatures of all kind and hunters, to tell them that they were all not the big bad creatures that they thought they were protecting people from. 

The conversation soon drifted from Derek to the Argents. Chris was actually a family associate to the Hale family; this was news that nearly knocked Stiles off his bed. The Hales were protectors of Beacon Hills when the Argents weren’t around, but the obvious sour patches of that were Kate and Gerard. Chris and Joseph Hale, Laura and Derek’s father, were childhood friends; they did everything together up to the point as teenagers when their familial destinies nearly tore them apart. 

Chris was a “softy” in the hunter world, he looked to reason and time when it came to slaying, he wanted to scope out the situation and make sure he wasn’t killing an innocent being, which drove Gerard INSANE! He wanted his oldest son to be like his only daughter, Kate; but Chris never caved in, sticking to what he believed was right, all the while secretly hanging out with Joe.

Joe just went on with his life as werewolf, shifting by night and living as close to as normal human life by day. At that time, the Hale family lived at the center of Beacon Hills, this was quite a while before the house in the woods was built; but when it came to night, the woods became his and other were-creatures sanctuary, up until the Argents took to using the woods for live action target practice.

Kate was an insanely accurate shot, she hardly ever killed, it wasn’t her intention, she wanted to make her prey suffer. Chris shot at them, knowing to shoot at extremities to keep wounds minimal, as long as he shot at them, they could get away pretty much unscathed, or his sister would maim them; a case of two unfortunate extremes. 

Gerard was more ancient that Stiles originally thought, because by the time Chris was born, age wise he could’ve been his own father’s grandchild. By the time Chris reached twenty-five, Gerard couldn’t hold overall head of the family anymore, and as the oldest, Chris stepped up. Immediately, things changed as soon as he was able to change them. The were-creatures of Beacon Hill were no longer on permanent open season, Chris took charge of training all new hunters and taught them his ways; he didn’t look to befriend were-creatures, but he did respect them as long as they followed the law and didn’t cause trouble. Despite all of this, Gerard still held a large part in the shaping of the hunter, not everything went the way Chris truly wished it would.

Chris asked the Hales, all of them, if they would keep a close eye out for any danger in the Hills while he and the other hunters went off on out of town missions; with Chris being a trusted family friend even after everything he did under his father’s watch, the Hales agreed.

With this news, Stiles just sat back in slack-jawed awe.

“Does Derek even know this?” Stiles asked.

“Not all of it, but enough.” Laura said. “That’s the reason why Chris just doesn’t outright kill Derek; he’s the son of his best friend. He went our funerals, all of them, even brought flowers to my grave years later when I was found to be dead; he even offered his place for me and Derek to stay right after the fire, but we decided to leave still.”

Stiles’ head was spinning; he just dropped back onto his bed fully.

“So much…” Stiles mumbled.

Laura nodded.

“I know, he’s an asshole, but I feel his pain.” Laura said. “But there is a piece of him that still cares enough for Derek to not kill him, even though at times it seems like he goes all out to do it.”

Stiles stared up at his ceiling in silence, unblinking. Laura thought he fell asleep with his eyes open for a moment before he spoke again.

“Why are you telling me all of this?” Stiles asked.

“Because I want you to get to know Derek.” Laura said.

“Why?” Stiles asked.

“Because I know that you like him, more than like him, maybe love him.” Laura said in a rush. “Derek needs someone not only to take care of him, but love him as well. I feel that you can do that.”

Stiles gave Laura a look that let Laura know Stiles’ answer before he even uttered it, a look of incredulous anger.

“WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO PUT HIM ON ME?!” Stiles finally yelled.

He didn’t have to worry about his dad; the time for him to come home wouldn’t be for another couple of hours.

“BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU!” Laura yelled at Stiles.

Stiles let out an angry scoff.

“Quit fucking with me and get the fuck out of my house!” Stiles said.

“But Stiles-” 

Stiles put up a hand, shutting Laura down.

“I don’t want to hear it.” Stiles said as he walked over to his window; slowly, almost reluctantly, he locked his window. “Derek Hale is the saddest, most obnoxious man I’ve ever met in my whole life, only being surpassed by the hunters.”

Laura’s jaw dropped.

“He’s never going to find happiness in this lifetime, just never.” Stiles said, his head hanging, his voice devoid of any emotion. “I help him because the life of my best friend is always in the balance, as annoying as Scott is, he’s my brother, and I don’t leave my family alone in danger if I can help it. But Derek, he’s lost everything, including hope; I believe he needs help, but he’s never going to take it. No matter what I do, it will never be enough.”

Laura was speechless.

“Just go, please.” Stiles said as he walked over to his bed and flopped down onto it, he grabbed his blanket and wrapped it tight around his body.

Laura stared after Stiles for a bit before she left. 

She didn’t know where she was going to go, but anywhere else was better than Beacon Hills.

To be continued…


	3. Was that Ms. Frizzle?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lauren finds herself in a strange new land, new creatures, new lifestyles, and a new friend who happens to be related to the last person she wants to think of at the moment.

As the fourth were-alligator she saw walked through her, Laura again wondered where she wondered to this time, she’s been seeing the craziest things lately! As a ghost, she had the ability to see people as in creature form regardless of rather they were shifted or not, it just happened more often than not.

Whenever she drifted away from her brother for a few days, she always recognized some of her surroundings by the kinds of creatures she saw or the overall area she was in, but this time she must’ve wondered into an alternate universe. So far besides the alligators she saw over the last couple of days, she saw were-jaguars (not the winged-reptile kind, but the actual feline ones), a lion, parrots, rats, snakes: even an apparent python-kind, otters, among several others. Also, she saw a bunch of hyenas; Stiles research had been haunting her since she first spotted that group, she didn’t even know they existed before then, like so many of the other ones she saw.

And over here it was so free; creatures of different species were intermingling everywhere, even as intimate couples! The first couple that threw her for a loop was a lesbian were couple of jaguar and fox, they were the first couple of mortal enemies she saw, other pairings included lion and eagle, rabbit and wolf, rat and some kind of other wildcat, and a few other couples. As much as she was weirded out by a lot of it, she loved wherever she was.

As she drifted, she had a sense that someone was watching her; she looked around confused, wondering if possibly Stiles was somewhere around and she was much closer to home than she thought. Quickly, she spotted a woman who looked like Ms. Frizzle come to life; the resemblance between this real woman and the educational cartoon character was almost uncanny, she even dressed quite similar to said character.

The woman in question simply gave Laura a knowing smile and signaled at her to follow, then started walking away.

Laura didn’t know why, even without knowing this woman she felt she could trust her, without a second to lose Laura followed the mysterious colorful woman. A few minutes later, the woman went through the doors of a fortune teller business; Laura stood outside skeptical. Did she just follow a scam artist?

“I’m here for you, anytime you feel like coming feel free!” The woman’s voice rang out through the door, her voice loud but somehow seeming light as air at the same time.

Laura knew that she was talking to her. With an unnecessary intake of breath, Laura floated through the door.

This place was not what Laura was expecting, it was very light and colorful, much like the lady in question. The theme of the place was celestial, it made Laura feel comfortable. Moons in all formations were painted in no particular order on the walls with a backdrop color of a dark blue so dark it almost looked black. The carpet on the floor was a plush looking ruby red colored carpet, with royal purple rugs of different shapes and sizes covered various places. At the center of the ceiling, there was a beautiful clear chandelier that had different star shaped pieces that shined and glistened in the light.

The Ms. Frizzle lookalike simply stood leaning against a doorway at the back smiling softly. She wore a long flowing dress that was a bright blue with suns patterned on throughout; she had matching yellow-gold sunshine earrings that dangled on little chains on her ears; she had on her feet a simple pair of sandals. She was an averagely heighted woman, a cute circular face with a characteristic pointed chin, large cinnamon brown eyes sparked with happiness; a full head of long frizzy, curly, red hair was braided in a loose braid that was becoming undone, the shorter hairs to fly up haphazardly in a messy but cute fashion.

“Do you know where you are?” The woman asked simply.

Laura, relieved for the question, shook her head.

“Welcome to Miami!!!” She said as she spun around with a flourish.

Laura’s jaw dropped.

“Ah, you drifted here in a daze, didn’t you?” Laura asked in more of a statement than a question. “Where did you come from?”

“Beacon Hills…” Laura murmured, still in shock.

“OH!!!” Ms. Frizzle said with a clap of her hands. “I have a nephew who lives there! His name’s Stiles!”

The word Stiles came out in a low warped slow motion voice from Ms. Frizzle’s mouth.

“You’re related to him?!” Laura snapped.

Ms. Frizzle looked at her in surprise, but then smiled her kind way and held out a nice hand to Laura; Laura looked at her hand like a dangerous animal, drawing back a little bit in caution.

“Let’s talk.” Ms. Frizzle said.

\------------------

Ms. Frizzle didn’t go by Ms. Frizzle, but her name was Lauren, Lauren Yulana; she said she kept the last name of her late ex-husband. At first, the two at first just spoke about nothing, but then Laura just went off about everything; what happened to her family, how she died, what her brother was doing to himself, how she tried to get Lauren’s seventeen year old nephew to take care of her grown brother, how Stiles rejected not only her brother but her as well. All the while Lauren simply sat and listened, nodding along and prodding Laura along to continue. After everything was said and done, Laura felt strangely breathless, but happy to have at least something off of her chest despite none of the problems being solved.

Lauren gave Laura a reassuring smile before standing up and started rearranging things around the place, a book over there, a lamp over here, several mugs a couple shelves higher than they were before, things that didn’t need rearranging in the first place.

“I speak to my nephew maybe…twice a year.” Lauren said as she picked up a rag and started dusting at invisible dust. “I forget how old he actually is and I’m happy that he’s finally finding some adventure in his life, though I have a feeling I’ve only heard the tip of the iceberg.”

Laura nodded, looking sheepish.

“Stiles plays a big part in everything the pack does, though quite often no one notices.” Laura said. “But Derek does, he simply doesn’t know how to express into words to tell Stiles that he’s thankful for his work, forget a physical pat on the back.”

Lauren nodded with a murmur of understanding.

“Stiles is young, he doesn’t know wants he wants in life just yet.” Lauren said. “Last time I spoke to him, he started rambling and spoke of Derek very briefly; I knew it was a slip of a tongue when as soon as I asked him who Derek was, he switched the subject.”

Laura knew she was treading upon personal property, but she had to know.

“Why don’t you spend more time with Stiles?” Laura asked softly. “You two have quite a bit in common, abilities especially.”

Lauren let out a wistful sigh.

“He just drifted away. His mother was our anchor, my little sister.” Lauren said. “Anytime I visited, René would take Stiles along with her and we would all spend time together. I barely spent any time with Roger; we barely spoke as was when René was alive.”

Lauren came back to her seat beside Laura.

“Then she died; without telling Stiles about the family traits, without telling me how she would like me to explain them to not only Stiles, but to Roger as well.” Lauren said. “I spent almost a year with those two after René’s death, I thought Stiles how to cook since Roger couldn’t be bothered with it having to pull double shifts to support himself and Stiles, refused any financial help from me and kept my sister’s life insurance payout as a college and emergency fund.” Lauren wrung her hands slowly. “As I tried to get Stiles to open up to me, he drifted away more and more. After I was done teaching him mostly everything he would need to know for that time being, I came back down to Florida, I didn’t want to lose Stiles completely and I knew that my being there was going to cause that.”

Laura nodded in understanding, she went though the same thing with Derek after the fire; but she couldn’t leave him, as she was all he had, he was all she had. She and Derek fought constantly for several months in the beginning, resulting in them being evicted from several apartments and hotels; they were good on their payments, but the fights were so loud neighbors complained and/or there was major damage to property. Luckily the funds from the payouts they received allowed them to relocate swiftly from one place to another, but there were some points where they weren’t able to get an apartment or hotel room because those establishments were warned by the others of how troublesome the two were. Fond memories.

“I want to help you.” Lauren said suddenly.

Laura looked skeptical.

“I don’t know Derek, but for some reason I feel that Stiles can help him, love him.” Lauren said; then she looked up into the air. “I’m sorry René for arranging your son with a near suicidal werewolf, but the boys need each other.” There was no clear sign that René got the message.

Laura allowed herself a small smile.

“But…” Lauren added, the smile disappearing

‘Oh no…’ Laura thought.

“Why don’t I tell a few of my single friends looking for mates about your brother?” Lauren asked.

“My brother’s gay Lauren.” Laura answered. “And I don’t know if he’ll be open to dating another species.”

Lauren chuckled.

“Well, a few have been taken off my list quite quickly, but I still have a few in mind, why don’t you meet them?” Lauren asked.

“How?” Laura asked.

“I’ll be your interpreter.” Lauren answered. “These were-creatures know that my abilities are real and not some scam to just grab at people’s money, in fact, several of my services I do for free. I’m a radio producer in my “normal” profession.”

Lauren looked thoughtful for a moment.

“I know that your mind is still on Stiles, but that boy can be as stubborn as your brother, we may not have time to wait for him from what I understand.” Lauren said. “The men I have in mind are kind, loving, responsible people; if I knew them to be anything less, I would never bother recommending them.”

Just then, the click of the door opening and closing sounded along with the ring of a chiming wind chime.

“Speak of the devil, here’s one of the bachelors now.” Lauren said.

To be continued…


	4. And So It Begins...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles can feel his life turning to shit and Derek gets a visitor. (Does anyone else out here besides me know where this song comes from? :-))

Stiles knew that his day was about to go to shit when he looked up from his exam paper and saw Laura Hale floating at the front of the deadly silent classroom; he was the only one who could see and would be the only one who would be able to hear her, he knew that much; so he tried his best to fixate his concentration onto his test. 

Then Laura started to hum, loudly, the Candy Man song; after a couple minutes, she started singing the most idiotic song that Stiles had ever had the displeasure of hearing.

_The Panty Man, hey Panty Man!_  
Alright everybody gather round, the Panty Man is here!  
What kind of panties do you want?  
Sweet chocolate, chocolate malted, anything you want  
You’ve come to the right man, ‘cause I’m the Panty Man! 

_Who covers your privates? (Who covers your privates?)_  
Gets moist from butt dew? (Gets moist from butt dew?)  
Stains that look like chocolate but we all know that it’s poo  
The Panty Man (The Panty Man)  
Oh the Panty Man can (The Panty Man can)  
The Panty Man can ‘cause he mixes it with love and makes your butt feel good (Makes your butt feel good) 

And she went on to sing that song in its entirety over and over again, slowly but surely driving Stiles mad.

Luckily for Stiles, before Laura made her sudden reappearance after her disappearance nearly a month ago, he was for the most part done with the test with only a few questions left. Knowing that Laura was indeed beating a new earworm into his ears, he scribbled in the last few answers randomly and handed in his paper.

He continued to ignore the spirit as he made his way out of the room, and building, and into his car to drive away; it was the end of the of the semester, in the winter, time for three wonderful weeks of Winter Break. Beacon Hills was a bit different than other schools, the said semester was really a trimester, which had a slightly smaller amount of school days than the other schools around the area, but with the smaller amount of school days came longer breaks. Summer vacations for Beacon High went on nearly a month longer than the other schools did. To get in to Beacon High, one had to be at or above a certain score on the yearly state test; how Scott managed to stay at Beacon High surprised Stiles to no end every year, but he was always proud of his friend for managing.

As Stiles drove, he ignored his invisible passenger, knowing that even if he did say anything, Laura wouldn’t listen to him; which didn’t surprise him because hardly anyone alive listened to him either.

Laura during the ride downgraded back to humming the same song she belted out earlier, the song now making constant rounds in Stiles’ head as he tried to counter it with another catchy song, but it couldn’t be stopped.

Soon, Stiles pulled up to his drive way, or at least tried to but couldn’t. Why he couldn’t was because there was another car, a sky blue Volkswagen Bug, in what was usually in his spot; his father strangely enough was also home, his police car looking a little odd being parked there in the bright sunlight of the early afternoon. Pulling over to the side, Stiles parked his car and got out of his car.

Taking a quick look at the tags on the car, Stiles knew it was a rental; he looked into the inside and his eyes immediately zoned into the beautiful mini celestial wind chime hanging off of the rearview mirror, he knew that thing from anywhere. Without realizing he dropped his backpack, he quickly ran his way inside.

“Aunt Lauren?!” Stiles hollered out as soon as he opened the door.

“In here Stiles!” Sheriff Stilinski hollered from the living room.

Rushing in, he immediately dove nearly into the lap of his aunt; his upper half in her lap while he knees stayed on the floor. He dug his head into her stomach and hugged her tight. Lauren had a beautiful ringing laugh that filled the house as she hugged her nephew and patted his head lovingly; the Sheriff took in the sight with a smile.

“I know this is a sudden visit Stiles.” The Sheriff said as he made his way around the house to ready his things. “But your aunt is going to be staying with us for a bit.” 

Stiles looked up at his dad in a bit of shock, then at his aunt. Considering how far away she was from home, it wasn’t really that surprising; and knowing his aunt, there was no warning of her arrival either.

“I’m expecting you to make her feel welcome while I’m out.” The Sheriff said as he grabbed his keys. “I’m sure that there is a lot of catching up you two have to do, I’ll see you in the morning.”

The Sheriff bent down and pressed a kiss to his son’s head before heading out the door, leaving the aunt and nephew duo alone.

Lauren gently placed both of her hands on either side of Stiles’ face and bought his head up to look into her eyes.

“My, you’ve grown so much!” Lauren said as she took in her nephew’s features. “The pictures you and your father send me simply don’t do any justice!”

Stiles’ smiled with a blush, then he leaned forward and kissed his aunt’s cheek. Standing up, he plopped himself beside her on the couch; Lauren wrapped her arm around Stiles’ shoulders to bring him closer to her; after a little rearranging on the couch, Stiles was able to lay his head on his aunt’s shoulder. For a few moments, Lauren gently rubbed Stiles’ head with her fingers, constantly attempting to run her fingers through short lengthy hair that just didn’t have the length to catch.

“Your hair’s too short…” She quipped. “Let it grow a little next time.”

Stiles chuckled.

“I’ll think about it.” Stiles replied.

“Your father’s worried about you.” Lauren said. “He claims you’ve been acting odd and he’s wondering if he’s doing anything wrong. Is there something wrong baby?”

Stiles spared a secretive pointed look at Lauren, who made herself comfortable on the couch across from the pair. Lauren stuck her tongue out in a raspberry in retort.

“Oh, don’t blame Laura; she was only trying to get you to help her with Derek.” Lauren suddenly said. “I agree with her, you two were basically made for each other.”

At that, Stiles sprung away from his aunt like she was made of hot magma.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!!!” Stiles screamed, his voice echoing throughout the house.

Lauren stood up angrily, pointing a finger at Stiles that made him shrink back as if he was about to be attacked.

“Don’t you dare use that language!” Lauren yelled. “Your mother raised you better than that and I know your father didn’t stop in those ways!!!”

Stiles looked down at the floor in shame, but quickly shook it off and pointed at both Lauren and Laura.

“How do you know about her?!!!” Stiles yelled, asking both of them that one question for each other.

“I wonder around sometimes, I still don’t know how I ended up in Miami.” Laura said with a simple shrug. “I met Ms. Frizzle here a few days after my arrival.”

If Stiles wasn’t so freaked out, he would’ve laughed at that; the only sign that that answer got through to Stiles was when he dropped the hand pointing at Laura, but the hand pointing at his aunt still remained pointed.

“Sweetie, we have to talk.” Lauren said in a soft but serious voice.

So, for the next hour as Stiles paced around the living room, Lauren explained the family history from his mother’s side that he didn’t know about. Stiles was part Gypsy, true Gypsy, like most of his mother’s family was; in a sense, Gypsies were a sort of were-creature. Gypsies are a type of seer, which explained Stiles’ and Lauren’s abilities to see spirits, such as Laura; but some within the family were able to see the future and at times the past, Lauren had that ability. Stiles had just come into age to gain the ability; it was obvious that Stiles could see spirits, anything else he would be able to do would be revealed in time. And to answer Stiles’ question on if it was possible to get rid of the powers; no, like with many were-creatures, once they had the ability, the ability stayed till death.

Stiles stopped pacing and sat down, in a single seat chair away from Laura and Lauren, silent.

“I didn’t mean to meet your aunt, I just did.” Laura said. “She’s been a great help.”

Stiles didn’t know what to say, so he changed the subject by cutting to the chase on Derek.

“He hasn’t been doing so well…” Stiles said suddenly. “The others don’t notice, I don’t think I would’ve noticed either if you hadn’t brought it to my attention, but he’s getting worse. Clearly he’s not sleeping; I think he may be getting thinner, I gave him back his jacket and it seems baggier on him that usual.”

Instantly, Laura disappeared, leaving Stiles alone with his aunt.

Lauren gave Stiles a sad smile as she stood up and made her way over to him, she sat on the arm of the chair next to Stiles.

“You don’t have to worry about him anymore.” Lauren said after a moment.

Stiles looked up at her in suspicion.

“Why?” Stiles asked worriedly, his eyes narrowing.

Lauren stared down at her nephew, a smirk gracing her lips.

\-------------------

Derek didn’t know who he was going to beat the shit out of for this, but he’d go after his whole pack if he had to. Standing outside of the door of his burnt family home was a weird, but admittedly very good looking man asking him out on a date. Who was he? Where did he come from? And what did he really want? He could sense that this guy was a were-creature, but wasn’t sure what kind, but could also sense that he was an Alpha.

Knowing that this man could just climb into the house if he really wanted to, but not knowing what else to do at the moment that didn’t include an immediate attack, Derek slammed the front door in the man’s face; Derek could hear the man chuckle and say that he would be back soon, and then he walked away. A minute later, the smell of Chinese food from his favorite restaurant hit his nose, his stomach roared in response to the delicious smell; then the sound of a car starting and driving away sounded.

Derek stood there at the front door stunned for a moment before he opened the door again; looking down he saw a couple bags that he could smell that held a near buffet of his favorite foods. Shuffling his feet unsurely Derek just stared at the bags, his stomach growled again to egg him on to just picking up the bags and to enjoy.

Derek didn’t know why, but even though his interaction with the man was brief, he knew for some reason that he could trust him. Derek remembered the glistening chocolate eyes as the man introduced himself as Lionel, his skin as dark as tree bark, same as Boyd’s. He had a strong broad but shape face, thick eyebrows with slightly almond shaped eyes that were accented with not-too thick but just right eyebrows. His cheeks were high and his chin slightly pointed; his nose broad but pointed as well. His hair was done in long dreadlocks that were at the moment held back with a band at the back, his dreads going down to the middle of his back. His overall body stature was broad, but not too broad, much like Derek’s own before he started losing weight; the man was bigger than him for that reason. The man clearly was not from here, not only due to the fact that Derek never saw him around town, but his attire; the man was noticeably not used to the cold, so he was bundled up in not only a sweater, but a jacket, thick pants, and boots.

With a final screaming growl from his stomach, Derek quickly picked up the food and slammed the door behind him upon reentering the house.

Laura smiled sadly.

To be continued…


	5. Encounters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles and Lauren go to the supermarket. Derek gets another visitor.

The first week of Winter Break was heaven for Stiles with his aunt was minding the house; as a born homemaker Lauren couldn’t sit for long, often cleaning and fixing things around the house, cooking delicious meals out of whatever she could find in the fridge. But, the fridge eventually became too empty for Lauren to work her magic on being able to make scraps into extravagant filling meals, so she had Stiles drive her to the supermarket so she could get some groceries.

Over the week, everything in Beacon Hills had been oddly quiet; Stiles hadn’t been called at an odd hours of the night and told to chauffeur someone around town, or had been told something that would tempt him to do hours of research. His dad hadn’t come home with news of the odd vicious attacks that had been happening around town with Stiles’ theoretic were-hyenas. Scott was pretty much the only one in the pack that Stiles had any contact with, he had been happy to see Lauren too, having known her since he was little since he was Stiles’ best friend even then. Scott spent a lot of time at the Stilinski home, his own mother pulling off extremely long hours at the hospital left him lonely at home and he was always hungry.

Lauren shocked both Stiles and Scott with her knowledge of werewolves and explained to them that she knew of many different species of were-creatures back in Miami. Lauren didn’t tell Scott about her abilities or that of Stiles’, Scott never thought to ask how she knew of were-creatures in the first place, he certainly never asked Lauren and Stiles’ of abilities; Lauren thought it would be best to leave Stiles’ to tell Scott whenever he was ready.

It was hard for Stiles to not notice the friendship, the almost mother/daughter bond that Lauren and Laura had together. They were constantly planning something, but he wasn’t sure what. During the time when Roger (Sheriff Stilinski) was out working around town, strange good looking men would visit; exciting Laura and Lauren. Stiles would just leave the room, not wanting anything to do with Laura or Derek, but would wonder who those guys were and what they wanted. He had an encounter with one, if Stiles remembered correctly his name was Lionel, as the man was coming out of the guest bathroom in the hallway of the house; they almost bumped into each other. Lionel simply smirked at Stiles and introduced himself, Stiles not knowing what to do turned and walked back to his room.

As Stiles pulled into the parking lot of the local supermarket, he immediately noticed a familiar looking sleek SUV type car. He looked around quickly hoping not to catch a glance of the owner and turned back to his aunt; before he could attempt to speak she cut him off.

“This store has everything I need.” Lauren said as she walked pass Stiles towards the store.

Stiles stuttered, then followed; he paused for a second when he noticed that Laura wasn’t with them anymore, she must’ve wondered off back to Derek.

By the time Stiles made his way into the store, Lauren had a shopping cart with a bunch of things in it already. Stiles made his way over to her and stood by her side. The two shopped in calm silence, until Stiles saw a familiar young woman.

Not too far away from the pair stood Allison, she had a little handheld basket in hand as she looked up and down the shelf for whatever she was looking for, she didn’t notice Stiles or his eccentrically dressed aunt. Stiles breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed that Allison was here by herself, he didn’t have to worry about-

“Lauren?” A very familiar voice that sent shivers up Stiles’ spine asked.

“Hello Chris.” Lauren said without looking at said man, she was busy looking at the different pasta sauces.

Stiles slowly turned around and saw a very surprised looking Chris Argent, who looked like he was seeing a ghost, a look that honestly shocked Stiles. Chris was pale, slightly wide eyed, and he was sweating! Stiles looked at his aunt, who placed a couple glass jars into her cart then turned to face Chris eye to eye. Lauren was smiling, but it wasn’t her usual happy-go-lucky smile, it was a cool smile, a calm smile that frankly disturbed Stiles quite a bit. Was he going to have to call for backup to protect his aunt?

A hand that placed itself on Stiles’ shoulder made him jump, he whipped around to see a confused and worried looking Allison, her eyes held questions in them; Stiles shook his head to tell her he had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Chris Argent’s Adam’s apple bobbed a bit as he swallowed before speaking.

“How are you Lauren?” He asked; a question that clearly held many other questions.

“I’m doing fine Chris, and yourself?” Lauren answered and asked coolly.

Chris eyes flickered to Allison for a second before he answered.

“Everything’s fine.” Chris said.

“It’s been awhile since we last spoke.” Lauren said.

Stiles felt his knees start wobbling, Allison grew more curious.

“It has.” Chris said with a nod. “It has.”

“How’s Vicky?” Lauren asked.

Allison let out a small gasp and Stiles stumbled, his world turning a little hazy; Allison caught a hold of Stiles’ arm before he could fall, holding his arm in her own just in case.

What Chris winced at wasn’t really clear, it could’ve been because the death of his wife was still fresh, or his wife’s name being downgraded to “Vicky”. It was likely both.

“She…passed away a few months ago…” Chris said.

Lauren looked surprised, her cool look faltering into a sad one.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Lauren said sincerely; she turned to look at Stiles, then noticed a wide eyed Allison. “This must be Allison!” She held out her hand to her. “Hello, my name’s Lauren, I’m Stiles’ aunt!”

Chris eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head at that announcement. Stiles wanted to disappear; he was proud to be his aunt’s nephew, but this would be a moment where he wasn’t. What in the hell was going on around here?!

Allison gently gripped Lauren’s hand, noticeably not squeezing any tighter and gave her a simpering smile.

With a nod of goodbye to both Argents, Lauren took her nephew’s arm and led him away from the rattled pair to continue shopping; all the while Stiles shivered and stuttered along the way.

\-------------------

A partial meeting was taking place at the Hale house, only Boyd and Isaac, were called. Derek called these two because he trusting them the most, next to-

No, he wasn’t going to think about him. Derek had a feeling something was wrong and on account of this particular person not even being a werewolf, Derek wasn’t going to waste his time and have that guy’s personal problems affect the plans of defending Beacon Hills. Yes, things have been quieting down lately, but one could never be too sure.

Boyd was the closest to second-in-command that Derek could trust, Isaac was a trustworthy person who placed unwavering trust into whatever he dished out to him; though both were still training in basics, Derek knew he could trust them to always come to his aid. Tonight he had called them in to get special extra training, he was training them above the others so that they could help him train the others when the time came, that way training would hopefully go on more efficiently and quickly.

Just as he wrapped things up, the roar of an engine caught his attention; however this engine sounded quite different from the engine that had been pulling up to his house on a daily basis for the past week. 

He has come to know Lionel as a mysterious and confusing person who just kept bothering him; bringing with him lunch and/or dinner throughout each day, simply handing Derek a meal before sitting down on the steps of the Hale home and feasting on a meal of his own. Derek didn’t know what to think of it, but got extremely annoyed and put off when at the end of each meal Lionel would ask him on a date. As far as Derek was concerned, unless the man started giving him answers, these encounters would be their only dates; Derek even took an attempted swipe at Lionel when the man tried to kiss him one day. Lionel just laughed and promised to come back the next day; he drove to and from the house in a black Mustang convertible.

The particular car that was making its way towards his house clearly had a bigger engine without Derek having to see the car. As it drew closer, the trembling of the ground grew, the Mustang never did that. A few seconds later, a huge silver Ford truck pulled up, parking just at the edge of the trees of the opening; the door suddenly opened and out jumped a casually dressed man.

This guy was clean cut, slightly tanned skin that clearly wasn’t a simple tan; a cute heart shaped face with high cheeks and large green eyes. He had a strong, but lean build; his clothing was slightly hiding what strength he had from the outside world. Platinum blond hair that was neatly trimmed that would’ve been wispy if it wasn’t gelled back at that moment. He wore a plain white t-shirt and jeans; he had on a black blazer jacket and a pair of back converse. In his hand, he held an actual rose.

Wondering what this guy wanted, but not wanting to put the two with him in immediate danger, Derek signaled for them to just hang back while he went to go speak to this new stranger. As he walked over to this newcomer, Derek started thinking back to Lionel for some reason, seeing that the new guy was shorter by quite a bit, possibly 5’ 6”; Derek thought back to Lionel’s impressive height that made him stand over a head taller than Derek. Derek didn’t know why he was thinking about Lionel at a time like that, especially since he cursed out the guy today.

As he came to a stop in front of the stranger, the man actually bowed and then introduced himself.

“My name’s Nathanial, nice to meet you Derek.” Nathanial said.

It was happening again. Lionel knew his name too without him having to say anything, Nathanial was shaping up to be another weird one, but Derek already had his answer.

“No.” Derek said simply, crossing his arms across his chest.

“Awww…” Nathanial said as he tilted his head to the side. “You think you have a choice.”

Derek drew back at that statement with a growl; taking in Nathanial’s scent, Derek found that he too was a sort of Alpha.

Nathanial made a sudden movement so quick he disappeared for a second, then appeared right in front of Derek, pulling him into a deep kiss. Derek was stunned for about a few seconds before he started struggling, but try as he might, he couldn’t get out of the man’s grip; after about a minute, Nathanial finally relented. Derek actually stumbled a little bit, but Isaac was there to steady him, Boyd stood in front of the pair before Nathanial growling at him, half wolfed out.

Nathanial simply rolled his eyes and smirked; again, the man bowed, then turned and walked to his car. In a burst of dusty dirt, he drove away.

The trio left behind stood in stunned silence. 

Derek could feel his lips tingling, as he brought his hand to his head to rub it in a tired way, his fingers brushed against something behind his ear. Taking the thing from behind his ear into view, he saw that it was the rose that Nathanial was holding; the bastard must’ve slipped it there when he kissed him.

Angrily shaking Isaac off of him, Derek turned to the two members who saw everything, red eyes gleaming.

“Not a word of this to anyone!” Derek growled at them.

Boyd and Isaac shrunk back, nodding.

“This meeting’s over, go home.” Derek said simply, he turned and headed back to his house.

Boyd and Isaac stared after Derek as he walked away, continuing to watch as he entered his house and slammed the door, the pair stood side by side in another moment of silence.

“Did you see the spots of gold in his eyes?” Isaac asked.

Boyd only nodded.

To be continued…


	6. Disconnect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a fight in the Stilinski household and Stiles finally gets the courage to tell Derek something...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish I could get more reviews. I greatly appreciate the reviews I've gotten so far, but I thought I would get more as the story progressed. I know I'm sounding like baby now, but I LOVE reviews; there is a reason why I left the option open to ALL. But if you have any flames, unless it's constructive criticism, keep them to yourself.

It was a couple days after the shopping adventure with Aunt Lauren, Stiles was still reeling from it. When he questioned his aunt on how she could’ve possibly known Chris in the first place, his aunt simply smiled and said they were friends; she said friends in a way that just gave WAY too much information that he didn’t want to explore any further. Stiles didn’t know if he was going to be able to look at his aunt the same way again. 

At the moment, he was up in his room curled up in bed, doing some of the Winter Break reading assigned by the school. Just as he was about to flip another page, the sound of a loud scuffle broke out in the living room, along with the sound of breaking glass. Stiles could hear growling and roaring, over that he heard Lauren and Laura screaming at the two guests to calm down. Jumping up out of his bed and rushing to his closet, Stiles picked up his trusty baseball bat and rushed out of his room to the stairs.

Stopping right at the top and looking down into the living room, he instantly dubbed the visitors Mufasa and Mr. Fox in the back of his mind. The two had stopped fighting and were on opposite sides of the room glaring at each other, twitching in wait for another attack. Lauren was already flitting about the room sweeping and fixing up the things kicked up, knocked over, and broken around the room. Laura stood in the center of the living room looking back and forth at the two worriedly and unsure. Stiles looked at the main couch and saw that someone had taken a swipe at the other and completely missed, resulting in deep cotton-letting claw punctures in the couch; Stiles wondered how long it was going to take before his dad found out about that and started asking questions.

Mufasa, a.k.a. Lionel, was an awesome looking were-lion; he had grown a few inches in height, his body becoming broader than he was before. His dreads remaining the same but were now loose from their usual loose ponytail and fanned out around him like a mane. His eyes were now bright amber with feline pupils completely thin, so thin that his eyes almost bleached out in amber. His nostrils and mouth changed quite a bit, resembling that of the lion that he had just become, his large sharp deadly looking canines making him look all the more dangerous; his ears became angled, like the werewolves’ did whenever they changed. He was covered the typical golden fur the lion was known for; he had a golden tail with a long brown tuft of hair at the end; it was swaying back and forth jerkily in anger and tension. His hands held his long deadly claws, his fingers twitching in what was likely temptation to wrap his hands around the neck of the smirking wolf across the room.

Mr. Fox, Stiles didn’t know his actual name yet, had only appeared at his house one other time before today. He remained pretty much the same height, and had the same build as before, lean but strong. His hair turned an almost strawberry red, at the top his head were a pair of twitching triangular red furred white tipped ears. His eyes turned into a bright brown that sparkled with mischief; like Mufasa’s face, his face changed as well, he had a more doggy-like pointed nose that was black, and his mouth changed in shape a little, resembling the creature he just became. His body was covered in red fur like a fox’s, and behind him he had a fox-like tail, white tipped, fluffy, and all. On his hands, his nails became sharp, but not as long as his opponent’s claws, but they were still clearly dangerous. 

Unlike Mufasa, because Mr. Fox’s body didn’t change in stature all that much, his clothing remained unscathed; however Mufasa’s clothing ripped due to the sudden change in size, his pants were fine, but his shirt was in tatters.

As Lauren finished the cleaning around the house, she stood at the center next to Laura and glared at the two.

“I have the right mind to knock you two out of the running!” Lauren said. “Since you did this appalling behavior in front of Laura, she’s likely thinking of calling the whole thing off.”

“DON’T DO THAT!!!” Mufasa and Mr. Fox yelled.

Stiles dropped his bat and caught the attention of all four figures in the living room, Stiles stormed down the stairs.

“Okay, what the hell is going on here?!!!” Stiles asked irritated.

Laura looked smug, yet worried at the same time.

“Well, since you aren’t stepping up to take care of Derek, someone has to.” Laura said. “So I teamed up here with Lauren to find a proper mate for Derek.”

Stiles whipped his head back and forth between the two apparent bachelor were-creatures and gave Laura an incredulous look.

“I don’t know if you haven’t noticed Laura.” Stiles said with his hands at his hips. “But these two aren’t werewolves.”

“So?” Everyone asked Stiles.

Stiles looked confused.

“Is this even possible?” Stiles asked. “If Derek is to go on with either of them?”

“Why are you so interested kid?” Mr. Fox asked.

Stiles turned to him annoyed.

“Who the hell are you?” Stiles asked.

“The name’s Nathaniel.” Mr. Fox answered.

“And you’re Lionel, right?” Stiles asked Mufasa.

Mufasa simply nodded.

“What could you possibly want with Derek?” Stiles asked.

“I’ve met him several times, and like what I see and hear.” Mufasa answered. “I’m not closed off to the possibility of a relationship with him, if he so chooses to try with me. The problem with this is we can’t tell him just where we came from and why we are truly there.”

“Why not?” Stiles asked.

“Derek isn’t one for the supernatural, though he himself is a talking, breathing supernatural legend.” Laura said. “One mention of me communicating with anyone and he’ll shut away from any prospect of mating.”

“Why are you so worried about him getting a mate? Regardless he’s not going to want one.” Stiles said knowingly.

“I wouldn’t say that kid.” Nathanial said wistfully. “Not after he clung to me when I kissed him a couple days ago.”

Stiles’ jaw hit the floor, Laura face palmed and groaned while Lionel let out a low angry growl.

“Now, now, just because of this little slip up we shouldn’t lose all hope.” Lauren said softly, trying to calm both Laura and Lionel down.

“We shouldn’t?” Laura asked uncertainly as her hand slid from her face. “I said specifically, “Make it SLOW progress!” And this moron here molests my brother at first sight!” She pointed angrily at Mr. Fox.

Mr. Fox blew Laura an air kiss in response, his smirk growing.

“I told you not to include him for a reason!” Mufasa growled.

Stiles just walked out of the living room and out the door, grabbing his coat off of the rack along the way.

The remaining four stood in silence.

“Why do I have a feeling he’s about to do something stupid?” Laura stated more than asked.

Lauren shook her head.

“I don’t doubt him, but I’m worried for him.” Lauren said.

\------------------

Stiles rode his bike over to the Hale house, he desperately needed the extra time to think over what to say to Derek exactly; as he rode up to the house, he was still at a blank of what to say. So when Derek stepped out of his house, staring at Stiles in curiosity rather than annoyance for once, Stiles just blurted out the first words that came to mind.

“I’m a gypsy!” Stiles said before he could stop himself.

Derek’s eyebrow quirked at the sudden confession.

“How do you know?” Derek asked.

“My aunt.” Stiles said as he got off of his bike, he let it fall over on its side onto the ground. “She came over to visit and explained everything to me.”

“Has anything been happening before her visit?” Derek asked.

Stiles started shuffling on his feet, feeling the hole that he was digging himself into grow bigger, but he knew it was for Derek’s good, rather the bastard believed him or not.

“Yeah…” Stiles began. “I saw a spirit.”

Derek stood there in silence, knowing that there was way more to this.

“The spirit I saw…” Stiles said, not wanting to say who he saw, but knew he had gotten too far to stop now. “…was your sister.”

Derek did a sharp intake of air through his nostrils, his eyes blazing; Stiles instantly noticed that Derek’s usually blood red Alpha eyes were strangely flickered with amber. Was that another sign of Derek’s deterioration? Was it too late to save him? Stiles thought of terms he could look up on Google.

“I know you’re lying.” Derek said, his voice quivering a bit. “I know that you wouldn’t be so…STUPID, as to not tell me that you saw my sister.” 

That stung Stiles, it really stung, and he knew that this hurt was only just the beginning, for both of them.

“I’m so sorry.” Stiles said.

Derek knew that Stiles was serious; Derek for one really didn’t believe that gypsies actually existed though he heard of them, but he knew that Stiles was telling the truth without having to do much other than look in the quivering teen’s eyes.

“Were you able to speak to her?” Derek asked quietly.

Stiles nodded.

“She asked me to help you the first night I spoke to her.” Stiles said. “I rejected her and she disappeared for a month.”

Derek’s fist was curled up by his side, his eyes flaring.

“She found her way to Miami where she found my aunt. My aunt is a more experienced gypsy.” Stiles continued. “They’re the reasons why Lionel and Nathanial have been bothering you lately.”

Derek’s jaw dropped, his head rearing back in confusion.

“What could those two possible want me hanging out with those men for?” Derek asked, his voice laced with genuine curiosity. “I don’t even know what they are. Why do they keep bothering me?”

Stiles sighed.

“Your sister is looking for a mate for you.” Stiles said. “I personally find it weird because she’s called in the choices for you to choose between a Lionel the were-lion and Nathanial the were-fox.”

“And you tell me about all of this now?!” Derek hissed; if he had a tail, it would’ve been bristled tight with anger.

Stiles winced again.

“Lionel’s been coming here every single day for over a week just pestering me for a date!” Derek said with his arms flailing. “And Nathanial basically molested me in front of Boyd and Isaac when I first met him!!!”

‘So, that really did happen.’ Stiles thought to himself, a wave of oddly placed jealously rushed through him.

“And what did you say that chased my sister away?” Derek asked.

Stiles really hoped that Derek wouldn’t ask that.

“She asked me if I could take care of you…” Stiles said. “I said no. That’s when she went off and bumped into my aunt in Miami.”

Derek at Stiles’ answer looked hurt, truly hurt; he looked like a desperately wanted Stiles to change the answer. Stiles considered it, but knew that he could never take back the words he spoke; he wondered why he said them in the first place.

Derek turned his back to him and walked back into the house, but before he closed the door, Derek spoke in a low, but quiet voice that Stiles wondered how he was able to hear it.

“Go away and never come back onto my property.” Derek said. “I don’t want you attending any future pack meetings from this point on. If I see you here, I won’t hesitate to attack.”

Stiles felt a cold feeling rush through him, one of sadness and strangely a sudden disconnect from something; he didn’t know what the disconnect feeling was about exactly, but he knew it had to do totally with Derek. As he looked at Derek, he could see the man was shivering a bit, like he was barely able to stand.

“I’m so sorry.” Stiles whispered as he picked up his bike off of the ground; mounting it, he rode away from the Hale house for what was likely the last time.

After a few minutes, when Derek was sure he was alone, he collapsed onto the wooden floor in silent tears.

To be continued…


	7. Phone Calls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some unexpected phone calls take place...

It had been a day later when Stiles got a phone call from an unknown number, cautiously he answered the phone.

“Hello?” Stiles asked uncertainly.

“What the hell did you do?” Jackson’s voice suddenly asked from the phone.

Stiles was more than surprised to have Jackson Whittemore calling him on his phone, how the fuck did the guy even get his number in the first place? Rattling his brain for a moment where he himself could’ve possibly felt it necessary to give Jackson his number, such a moment failed to come up; so he asked the first question that came to mind.

“How did you get my number?” Stiles asked plainly.

“I got it from Scott’s phone when he wasn’t looking.” Jackson answered. “What did you do?” He asked again.

“I’m guessing you’re asking about Derek…” Stiles said.

“Yeah.” Jackson said. “I and the others felt a really weird sense last night, like something went missing sometime in the evening. When I came here for the meeting, you weren’t here. As soon as Scott arrived, being the last wolf as usual, Derek started the meeting.”

“And?” Stiles asked.

“Erica told Derek to wait for you to come.” Jackson continued. “Derek wolfed out a bit and said that you were no longer a part of the pack. We tried to get him to tell us why, but he ended the meeting. We didn’t do anything today. He was acting really weird.”

“How so?” Stiles asked.

“When his eyes turned red, I saw these gold flecks in them.” Jackson said.

“Is that so…” Stiles said. He had been doing research on Derek’s weird golden spot problem, but he couldn’t find anything.

“Yeah…” Jackson said. “He seemed… MORE depressing than usual, yet… happy? I don’t even know how to explain it. But, what did you do?”

“I didn’t do something, and he had every right to be angry.” Stiles answered, leaving no room for another question, though he didn’t really answer the one at hand.

“Do you think everything is going to be alright soon?” Jackson asked hopefully.

“Why do you even care?” Stiles asked.

Jackson hesitated for a moment before answering.

“Because man, you not being there doesn’t feel right.” Jackson said. “I’m never going to utter a single word of this again, but you’re pack. You’re always there to help us even when you don’t want to and you not being there today honestly scared the shit out of me for a few minutes.”

Stiles’ mouth hung ajar as he listened to the words coming out of Jackson’s mouth.

“We all thought something was wrong last night when that feeling came over us, that horrible cold feeling that made us feel like something was missing.” Jackson said. “Then to find out that you’ve been ousted from the pack only confirmed our worries. We need you there.”

Stiles’ eyes started to burn, then he bit back a laugh when Jackson turned classic once again.

“And if I find out you somehow recorded this, I’m going to claw your ass apart, you hear me?!” Jackson hissed.

Stiles nodded numbly before he could catch himself, he let out a stuttered response.

“N-no, it’s not recorded.” Stiles said. “But thanks man.”

Jackson grunted in acknowledgement.

“Now, work on getting your man back before he falls apart.” Jackson said, the smirk could be heard.

Before Stiles could retort, Jackson hung up.

\------------------

Down in the living room, the visiting guests were in a bit of a state. Laura floated back and forth from one side of the room to the next; and for once, Lauren just sat down on the couch in a daze, wondering how she was going to fix what was recently found to be broken.

“I’m sad that Stiles did what he did.” Laura said. “But I’m really happy…”

Lauren nodded in agreement.

“Your brother finally accepted a date from Lionel…” Lauren said. “DEREK called him; I couldn’t believe it when Lionel called to tell me.”

Laura nodded in agreement and came to stand beside the chair Lauren was seated in.

“I wonder how that conversation went…” Lauren said thoughtfully.

Laura scoffed.

“What conversation?” Laura asked. “Even though I wasn’t there; knowing my brother he likely just said “Pick me up at ‘this time’”, and then hung up; I heard Lionel over the phone when he called you this morning, he was about to have a conniption, clearly he wasn’t expecting that call.”

“Neither were we.” Lauren said.

“I wonder if Stiles is okay…” Laura said. “He didn’t tell us much, but from the look on his face I knew it was bad.”

Lauren nodded again.

“Why don’t you go talk to him?” Lauren asked.

Laura looked at Lauren surprised.

“I don’t know if you haven’t noticed…” Laura said. “But up until his confession to Derek, Stiles has been trying to deny his ability, and as soon as he came back yesterday went right back to denying it, he wouldn’t say a word to either of us.”

“Just try…” Lauren egged on. “You know he deserves the best explanation of what’s going on, even more now since Derek’s wolf is starting to deny-”

Lauren’s phone rang in the Lion King’s chanting theme, both women shared a giggle. Without looking at the caller I.D., Lauren answered.

“Yes Lionel? What’s up?” Lauren asked, she signaled the stairs to Laura.

With a shaky nod, Laura floated up through the ceiling up into Stiles’ room.

When she entered the room, she found Stiles at his computer playing a game. Stiles exited out of the game and turned to her, remaining silent and waiting.

Laura sighed and began speaking.

“My brother NEEDS a mate.” Laura said.

“I know everyone needs love.” Stiles said. “But there is another reason as to why you are so desperate to find a mate for your brother. Why?”

“Derek is a born leader, but he’s not supposed to be an Alpha.” Laura answered.

Stiles’ eyebrow quirked in question.

“Derek’s an Omega.” Laura finally said.

Stiles’ jaw dropped again.

“How…?” Stiles tried to ask.

“Omegas don’t have lead over the overall pack, but in the personal family aspect of it, they usually rule.” Laura explained. “Raising the kids, taking care of sickness, things like that. And in turn, the Alpha, or in some cases the Beta makes sure everything is okay with their Omega.”

Stiles nodded in a bit of understanding; Laura continued.

“Derek’s at that age where he wants a family of his own, though it’s a little early, it’s understandable since his whole family is gone.” Laura said. “The pack he’s created now subdues a bit of it that urge, but with the way he’s behaving and treating them, especially with not letting anyone in, the pack’s true purpose is not fulfilling.”

Stiles nodded again.

“But in this case, it would make more since for you to find a female werewolf to be his mate…” Stiles said. “Why a lion and a fox of all beings?”

“I’m looking for people I can trust, species be damned!” Laura said. “Also, there is a quirk that comes for some male Omegas...”

Stiles waited.

“Derek’s one of the rare males that can reproduce.” Laura answered finally.

“WHAT?!!!” Stiles yelled as he jumped up from his seat.

Laura nodded.

“That’s the reason why the Alpha position or rather the wolf within him is rejecting said status.” Laura said. “The wolf wants to settle down and have a family with someone who will take care of not only Derek, but it as well. By extension Derek wants the same exact thing, but he feels that he doesn’t deserve such an honor; so for the most part he rejects any possibility of that becoming a reality.”

Stiles walked over to his bed and flopped down onto it; he needed to lay down for all of this to register to him. 

Laura sat down next to him, waiting to respond.

“What the hell kind of children could Lionel and Derek have together?” Stiles asked uncertainly.

“Who’s to say Nathaniel won’t win him over?” Laura asked in return.

Stiles winced.

\------------------

Derek pulled up to the house and killed the engine. He didn’t want to be there, yet he knew he had to be there. With an extra hard grip onto his steering wheel, he let go and stepped out of the car.

Walking up to the door, he very much wanted to turn and never return, but he couldn’t do that, not now, not when he didn’t know how much time he had left to have the opportunity available to him.

Ignoring the doorbell, Derek knocked on the door.

“Coming!” A voice rang from inside.

A few seconds later, the door opened a pair of knowing cinnamon eyes looked up at him, she gave a soft smile to Derek that made him feel warm and safe.

‘Yep, she a gypsy…’ Derek thought to himself as he eyed the woman’s attire.

She was dressed in a bright beautiful floral gown that stopped just above her knees; on her feet were a pair of hot pink cowgirl boots, and around her neck a small blue feather boa. Derek had a feeling he was seeing a ‘toned-down’ version of what she usually wore.

“I’m Lauren…” The woman introduced herself as she stepped out of the way to allow Derek in. “I’ve been expecting you.”

Derek squared his shoulders and stepped into the Stilinski residence. 

To be continued…


	8. Voices and Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek visits the Stilinski home... but all is not right just yet.

When Laura suddenly disappeared from Stiles’ side, Stiles knew instantly that it had to do with Derek, he just didn’t realize at that moment Derek was inside his house.

Meanwhile downstairs, Lauren very gently guided a very nervous Derek to the living room and had him sit down. She placed a tray with a plate that contained a foot-long hoagie sandwich in two halves piled high with meat, some chips at the side, and a can of Derek’s favorite soda. Derek blushed a little when his stomach growled quite loudly at that moment, he didn’t eat anything that day; Lionel didn’t come with lunch that day, apparently the man was getting ready with… Derek refused to call it a date, even though he knew it basically was.

When Derek didn’t reach for the offered meal, Lauren gently placed her hand on his shoulder, much like Stiles did before; but Derek didn’t find it annoying or like bodily trespassing, it reminded him of his mother’s or his sister’s caring touch. Derek looked up and saw Lauren softly smiling at him; a smile that encouraged him to enjoy the meal, reluctantly Derek reached over and grabbed the nearest half to dig in. Lauren gently patted his shoulder and walked out of the room into the kitchen, knowing that if she stayed that Derek would feel uncomfortable and not finish his much needed meal. She came back a few minutes later when Laura told her the Derek was almost finished, she gave Derek a second can of soda and took away the empty plate.

After the meal was eaten and done, the two sat in the living room quietly for a few moments, wondering who should speak first. Laura stood in the middle waiting eagerly for what her brother had to say.

“Is there a way that you can allow me to communicate with my sister…” Derek began. “…face to face?”

Lauren smiled knowingly.

“I can try, but I can’t guarantee it.” Lauren said. “I’ll try my best to make it so you can at least hear her voice, but I don’t know if you’ll be able to see her.”

Derek leaned forward slightly, looking hopeful.

“That would be incredible…” Derek breathed.

Derek at that moment was seated on the single seated chair in the living room; Lauren scooted over from the center of the double seated couch she was seated on and made room for Derek, patting on the cushion for him to make himself comfortable beside her. Nervously, Derek made his way over and gently seated himself down. The smell of cotton candy hit Derek full force, likely the body spray that Lauren was wearing that day.

Lauren held her hand out for Derek to place his hand into her palm; hesitantly, Derek did just so, immediately the warmth of her hand made Derek notice how much he missed physical contact with anyone, it’s been years since he let someone hold his hand. Lauren reminded him quite a bit of his own mother, which as to if Laura was actually there with him, he would understand just why Laura seemed to like to be with Lauren. He looked on as Lauren closed her eyes and lowered his head, her mouth moving silently as she spoke whatever words came to her.

Silence came back for about five minutes, Derek waited patiently as Lauren did what she had to do; Derek was still as stone, slowly breathing to make sure he didn’t disturb her in any way; he even left his phone in his car. Derek knew his waiting paid off when he smelt the smell of familiar leather other than his own; the leather he always wore, his father’s jacket, was forever infused with the faint smell of the cigars the man chained smoked on a near hourly basis. The leather he smelt was also a leather jacket, but infused with a unique perfume that he only ever smelt on his sister; it seemed that even in the afterlife that smell would stick with her. Derek looked around the room wildly, but didn’t see the face he so desperately wished to see.

“-rek…” A voice suddenly said, it sounded far away.

Derek froze, holding his breath, afraid that if he breathed at all that he would miss the voice.

Lauren stopped her silent chant and looked up at Derek smiling, she looked straight ahead.

“Laura, you can talk now.” Lauren said.

“Derek!” Laura’s voice yelled happily.

“Laura?!” Derek squeaked.

“Baby brother! I’m so happy to speak to you!” Laura said, her voice breaking with emotion.

Derek’s eyes began to burn.

“Laura…” Derek said longingly, his hand gently gripping a little tighter onto Lauren’s hand.

“I would leave you two alone if I could.” Lauren explained. “But if I let go of Derek’s hand now, the connection will be broken. And I don’t know how long it will take for me to get a connection between you two built again, we’re very lucky it worked in the first shot.”

Derek looked at Lauren with a huge watery smile.

“Thank you.” Derek said softly.

Lauren smiled and nodded her response.

Laura got right to business.

“Derek, I forgive you!” Laura said. “You know in your heart that everyone else forgives you as well. You keep holding yourself completely accountable for what happened, it was all Kate’s fault, she’s the one who betrayed you!”

“But-” Derek tried to retort to his sister’s voice.

“NO!” Lauren snapped. “You need to move on now! You’re wasting away before my eyes and I don’t want you to miss out on the life that you can have!”

“Is that why you sent Lionel and Nathaniel to annoy me?” Derek asked plainly.

“Well, you’re at least giving Lionel a chance.” Laura said, not bothering to mention Nathaniel at the moment.

Derek was silent for a moment.

“Did you actually go to Stiles?” Derek asked softly.

Lauren gently squeezed Derek’s hand to provide him with a little comfort, an action that Laura would’ve done if she were able.

“Yes.” Laura admitted. “You love him, I know you do. And I’ll admit, I came to him with so very much so fast! And he’s so young! But I knew that if he took you on, that he would take care of you, give you the love that you so desperately need and DESERVE!”

“Well, he didn’t.” Derek said sadly.

“And that’s on him.” Laura said, she felt a little bad at what she was about to say, but she knew that she had to say it to help her brother move on. “He missed out on the chance to love you. He’s going to see who you will become when you’re loved, when you’re finally taken care of, when you’re able to properly take care of yourself. You’re going to have a family that he can only wish he had.”

Derek remained silent.

“Why Lionel and Nathaniel?” He asked.

Lauren answered.

“Because I knew these two for a long time.” Lauren answered. “I trust them to take care of you. I know that once you get to know them, that you’ll trust them too. I know it’s frightening, you want to hide and not even try, but you have to. Without a mate, you’ll die, and you know that.”

“What if I want to die?” Derek asked quietly.

“DEREK CHRISTOPHER HALE!!!” Laura screamed and continued. “YOU ARE GOING TO LIVE, FALL IN LOVE, AND FIND A MATE! YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE A BEAUTIFUL FAMILY AND RAISE THEM BETTER THAN THE AMAZING WAY WE WERE RAISED!!! YOU WILL FIND HAPPINESS AND SPREAD IT TO THE PACK YOU CREATED AND WATCH THEM AS THEY ALL GROW AND HAVE FAMILIES OF THEIR OWN! DO YOU HEAR ME TO DIMWITTED BRAT?!!!”

Derek looked like a deer caught in headlights, absolutely terrified; he was suddenly happy that he couldn’t see his sister, he didn’t want to see if her eyes were glowing, showing the anger that she just screamed at him. Numbly, he nodded in the direction that the voice was most potent. 

Lauren bit her lip as she stared straight ahead at Laura, her eyes squinting in bit back laughter, knowing if she looked at the frightened wolf beside her that she would lose it.

“Now, I’m going to give you some pointers on how to dress up for your date with Lionel.” Laura suddenly said. “I will not accept you going out in a t-shirt and leather jacket with such a nice man.”

Normally, Derek would ignore this point, but knowing that he just pissed off his sister beyond reason, he made sure to pay extra attention to avoid excess anger.

\------------------

Stiles stood just a little bit away from the top of the stairs to avoid being seen by the occupants of the room. It hurt listening in to the conversation, hearing what Laura had said about him, but knowing that it was necessary to help Derek move on.

Stiles knew that he didn’t deserve Derek. Derek was this amazing man that was just going to become more amazing with the right mate to take care of him, Stiles knew that he was not that right mate. Especially after what he had said about Derek to his sister that first night they met. Stiles knew it was going to hurt to watch Derek moved on, that the man deserved the best no matter what he thought about himself.

The pain from being kicked out of the pack was still there, having just happened the day before. Stiles didn’t know that if with time he was going to get over it, or if there was any chance of Derek accepting an apology and allowing him back into the pack. Stiles knew that if he was a werewolf that the feeling would be much worse.

But, as Derek stood at the top of the stairs, his mind wondered away from Laura’s outfit demands to Derek to something he had heard Laura say a little earlier. Stiles becoming more disturbed the more he thought about the words.

‘Christopher…’ Stiles thought to himself. ‘Derek’s middle name is Christopher?’

\------------------

A few hours later, two towns away, a group of rough skinning looking fellows entered a shady bar. All of them wearing ripped, dirty clothing smelling of cigarette smoke, dirt, and blood. Their boots stomped the wooden floor as they made their way to the back. Though all of them were ranging from skinny to average build and from average to slightly above average height, the other occupants of the bar of all sizes looked away from the group, hoping to not draw attention to themselves from the group.

At the back, the group seated themselves at tables around the booth at the very back, where a single light shone just enough light for everyone to see where they were going. Only one from the group went to the booth and sat down at the very outside edge of it, leaving the rest of the booth to the lone, shadowed figure occupying it already.

“Do you know why I called you here?” A deep voice asked.

The single gang member swallowed nervously.

“Because we left the Hills without your permission.” The member said quietly.

A fist suddenly made contact with the member’s face; he fell to the ground with a sudden, hard thud that quieted the whole bar except for the music. Another member from on the tables noticed the attention shifting towards them and growled, instantly all the other occupants turned and went back to minding their own business. The downed member pulled himself up and seated himself back into his side seat, swallowing the blood that flooded into his mouth from his quickly healing tongue.

“I told you to keep an eye on the Hale.” The figure simply said. “Do activity that would draw him out, fight with him, take notes of his movements, and report back to me. You did only step one. Why is that?”

“A couple of new Alphas have arrived recently.” The member said.

“What?” The figure asked; a slightly surprised tone slipped.

“From what we could sense, one of them is a were-lion.” The member explained. “The other that arrived, we’re not sure what he is, but we’re positive he’s another Alpha.”

“Is that so?” The figure asked. “What has Argent done about it?”

“Nothing from what we see.” The member said. “They haven’t really done anything other than hang around Hale.”

“Figures.” The figure growled. “Why Hale?”

“They seem to be courting him.” The member said.

The figure barked out a laugh.

“Courting him?” The figure asked. “That mongrel? He’s lucky I’ve even considered him from what I need him for, and he’s being courted by an Alpha were-lion? A wolf and a lion.” A deep chuckle sounded.

It made the members all around uncomfortable.

“I’ll tell you what.” The figure said. “If you come back to me with enough information on Hale that will guarantee us success of his capture within the next month, I’ll double our original agreement.”

This caused frenzy of hushed whispers around with the members, the one front and center sat in stunned silence. Knowing that he had no choice but to agree, he nodded.

“Alright.” The figure said. “In one month from today, if you don’t have anything at least worthwhile in the beginning of a plan, I’ll skin you all alive.”

Another quick nod and the member stood up, signaling to the group that they were ready to go, everyone got up and stormed out of the bar; leaving the place in the same shape it was in before they arrived, for once.

“Damn you Chris, you never cease to disappoint me.” The figure grumbled.

To be continued…


	9. Girls' Night Interrupted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alison and Lydia have a night out on the town, then they stumble upon something quite suspicious...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, having a job is hard... Anyways, a heads up warning to Lydia's character, I changed her up quite a bit for my story. This part was what took me so long, I wondered if I should leave it as is, or post it up now and change it up later... well, I'm posting it up now, I don't know how it'll turn out for later just yet.
> 
> I've been working on a new story that focuses on vampire!Stiles for awhile now; what I basically have are the summaries of all of the characters. Here's the gist of it, it's a future fic within the TW world, it involves mpreg!Derek, divorce, amnesia, and several other things I can't remember at the moment. I didn't know how to even start the fic, but I think I got quite the spark from that recent story "Hunger", I forget the author's name though, but it's an insanely fun read.
> 
> Thank you to all of those who reviewed, it is GREATLY appreciated! I'm hoping to get more. Sorry I kept you all hanging for so long!!!

Chapter 8

“Are you sure that was Stiles’ aunt?” Lydia asked as she looked through the racks for a new top.

“She said she was.” Allison answered as she looked in a nearby mirror, seeing how a necklace from looked on her. “It was just so weird. And you should’ve seen Stiles; if I wasn’t holding him up he would’ve hit the floor.” She chuckled.

Lydia smiled at that.

“If I were him, I probably would’ve done the same thing…” Lydia murmured.

Allison nodded in agreement.

A couple hours ago, Lydia suddenly called Allison up for a girl’s night out. Allison, with nothing to do at that moment, agreed to pick up Lydia and take her to the mall. Though her father knew of Lydia’s connection to the pack, he allowed Allison to hang out with her, as long as it was only her; as long as the man didn’t know of Allison’s occasional meetings with the rest of the pack, everything would be good.

When the girls ran out of things to talk about, Allison reluctantly brought up the strange meeting with Stiles’ aunt from a few days ago.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met any of Stiles’ relatives other than his mother and father…” Lydia said thoughtfully.

Curiosity immediately got hold of Allison.

“What was Mrs. Stilinski like?” Allison asked curiously.

Lydia smiled softly.

“She was amazing!” Lydia answered. “There wasn’t anyone in town that didn’t like her; even the weird kids liked her. She was a teacher at Beacon High and guidance counselor. She taught history at the high school and was a part time guidance counselor at the middle school that Stiles went to.”

Allison focused her attention on Lydia.

“She was beautiful as well! I wished she was my mother so I would grow up to look just like her.” Lydia said. “She and Stiles have the same eyes. And she was sharp all the time. Imagine Stiles’ constant lip ten times over, but somehow charming.”

Allison laughed softly at that, finding that hard to believe.

“She helped wherever and whoever she could if it was in her power. She just seemed to pop up out of nowhere when someone needed her the most, especially for Stiles.” Lydia said. “I remember when we were in the seventh grade, Stiles was about to be beaten up by some asshole, when his mother just came out of nowhere; it was like noon, she should’ve been at the high school teaching history at that time. The bully ran off and Stiles ran into his mother’s arms without a care in the world; he was a Mama’s Boy to the core.”

Allison sat down on a bench, Lydia followed as she continued.

“Back then, Stiles was lippy, but he was like his mom; he had a way with words that didn’t make him… obnoxious.” Lydia said. “Then, his mother just… went. Most don’t know why, or even how; I don’t even know if Stiles knows what really happened. It was just that, she was there one day, and gone the next. Young.”

Allison dawned a sad and confused look.

“I wasn’t really friends with Stiles then, I just watched everything from afar. The closest to friends we were was just exchanging hellos in the hallways and whatnot.” Lydia said. “I just watched Stiles change before my eyes… he started cutting his hair REAL short, in the buzz cut style you see today. He used to grow it so long he went down to his shoulders, he held it back with a band even.”

Allison tried to imagine Stiles like that.

“Whenever he had his hair cut, he used to spike it up into the hard ugly spikes that were popular then.” Lydia explained with a shudder.

Allison giggled.

“His eyes today are similar to his mother’s, but not exactly like them like they were then.” Lydia continued. “They got darker. That’s the only way to explain it; day and night transformation practically. Then the lip got bad, real bad. After a short while, he became the annoying sarcastic brat we know and tolerate today.”

Allison knew this was the turning point.

“He got into fights, the crap beaten out of him on a daily basis for awhile.” Lydia said. “I saw Scott always trying to get Stiles to back down from something he said, but Stiles just didn’t care. I look back at that sometimes and I know what he was trying to do.”

Allison looked oddly at Lydia.

“He was trying to get someone to kill him. He wanted to be with his mother so bad. But, I guess he couldn’t bring himself to do it himself.” Lydia said. “He started to wear long sleeved shirts to school…”

“Oh no…” Allison murmured.

“Scott isn’t too bright today, imagine him back then…” Lydia sniped.

Allison let that slide at the moment.

“I saw him picking at the scabs one day when he thought no one was looking.” Lydia said. “I decided then that I was going to be nice to him. I worked with him on projects, spoke to him more often…”

“And that’s where he read into it a little too far.” Allison said.

Lydia nodded.

“I knew he had feelings for me, but I was afraid to back off and leave him vulnerable again.” Lydia said. “Then suddenly, he stopped coming to school. No one knew what had happened, not even Scott. This was in the eighth grade.”

An announcement over the loud speaker startled the girls out of their little world, when they realized it didn’t concern them, Lydia continued.

“After a short while, Scott told me something was going on with Stiles and that he wasn’t coming to school for awhile.” Lydia continued. “I didn’t realize that “awhile” would pertain to not seeing him until tenth grade year.”

Allison’s eyes quirked a little.

“I asked Stiles a couple times what he had been up to; he simply refused to speak about it. By then, we were back to square one in our friendship, but I couldn’t be as nice as I was back then.” Lydia answered.

Allison rolled her eyes.

“But you were at least nice to him in the advanced placement classes? Right?” Allison asked.

“The advance classes I take are online.” Lydia answered as she stood up. “That’s how far our worlds are now.”

Allison sighed as she stood up, just as she was about to speak, something caught her eye. She gasped as she ducked behind a display rack. Not knowing what was going on, Lydia followed Allison action quickly just in case. After a moment, Lydia asked what was going on.

Allison hissed at her to be quiet and pointed at something across the way on the other side of the mall.

Peeking from behind her own hiding spot, Lydia tried to follow Allison’s gaze, but couldn’t see what Allison was looking at.

“Seriously, what’s going on?” Lydia asked irritably.

Allison emerged from her spot and grabbed Lydia’s hand, dragging the confused girl out of the store to wherever. A couple minutes later, the pair made it to the movie theater. Allison ordered a pair for some action movie that Lydia knew Jackson wanted to see and Allison quickly dragged Lydia into the assigned theater.

“What are we doing here?” Lydia hissed as they entered the room.

“Shhhhh!” Allison hissed back. “He might hear us, we have to be quiet!”

“Who?!” Lydia hissed.

Allison found a pair of seats unoccupied and quickly seated there. Some of the lights just dimmed down at that moment, signaling that the movie would start shortly.

“There, look right there!” Allison said as she grabbed Lydia by the chin and guided her sights one whatever was making her behave like she was.

Lydia was just about to yell at Allison to let her go when she gasped at what, or rather who, she was.

“Who is that guy?” Lydia asked immediately.

Positive that Lydia was seeing who she was seeing, Allison let her friend’s face go.

“I don’t know, but clearly it’s a date.” Allison said.

The girls were looking at Derek Hale settling into the side of some other unknown guy like one would with a lover. The girls knew that Derek was at least bisexual with the way they both caught him occasionally checking out other guys when he thought no one was looking at him, but they had no idea that he was in any relationship, they wondered what the rest of the pack knew. The guy they saw Derek with was taller than him, black, long black dreads tied back with a nice black silk ribbon. 

Both men were dressed comfortably, but handsomely as well. This was the first time that both girls saw Derek without his ever present leather jacket, instead, he wore a blazer from a black suit; he wore a nice blue button up shirt and a pair of pants that matched the blazer in color. Derek shaved, his face looking baby smooth for once as well; the girls wondered to themselves which look looked better on the man. The man with Derek was dressed nicer than him, dressed in a dark brown suit without a tie of any sort; the suit was clearly a together set unlike the one Derek had obviously thrown together last minute, but at least matched.

The lights dimmed completely for the movie. The girls watched in amused amazement as Derek burrowed his way further into the mystery man’s side; said mystery man smiled and wrapped his arm tighter around his date.

The girls looked at each other shocked. Who was this guy?!

The film went on, the girls got bored with the film despite the show of Derek comfortably snuggled into the side of his date. About to leave and call it a night, Allison saw a flying handful of popcorn suddenly hit the mystery man in the head, dispersing upon hitting its target and falling on Derek as well. The dating duo looked around frantically for whoever threw the popcorn at them, so did Allison and Lydia. It happened again a moment later, that time the four were able to pinpoint where the popcorn came from.

It was a guy with slicked back platinum blonde hair and green eyes, in an expensive looking suit, one of the nicest suits that Allison had ever seen that made the man stick out like a sore, somehow mostly unnoticed, thumb. He sat a row and a few seats away; on his lap was a box with a large tub of popcorn and large drink. Even with the eyes of both the mystery man and Derek on him, the new man threw another handful, this one hitting the mystery man clean in the face.

Both Allison and Lydia had a bit of a jolting shock when Derek’s date suddenly partially shifted, his face morphing into that of a large wild cat, he bared his teeth and growled; this somehow going unnoticed by everyone but the ones focusing in on the confrontation; Derek placed his hand on the shifting man’s shoulder in an attempt to calm him. The theater was half full at that moment, but somehow this was unnoticed by everyone else except the four.

Then, out of nowhere, storming down the aisle came a brightly dressed woman. She silently made her way down the aisle the annoying popcorn thrower was seated and hauled him up by his ear, then in a breeze as suddenly as she appeared, she and the man were gone. Without a missing another beat, the dating pair went back to watching the movie.

Allison and Lydia stared at each other with emotionless faces.

“That was Stiles’ aunt.” Allison whispered.

“And I think I know where we’re going to go.” Lydia said as she stood up.

To be continued…


End file.
